A number of S.C. Episcopal parishes, including Trinity Myrtle Beach and St. Paul’s Episcopal in Conway, joined the Diocese of South Carolina and the Trustees of the Diocese in a lawsuit filed Friday seeking to stop The Episcopal Church from trying to take the Diocese’s real and personal property as well as that of the parishes.

The suit also asks the court to stop The Episcopal Church from infringing on the protected marks of the Diocese, including its seal and historical names, and to prevent The Episcopal Church from assuming the Diocese’s identity.

“At its heart,” said Jim Lewis, the Diocese’s canon to the ordinary, “this is about freedom of religion.”

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A South Carolina court has been asked “Who and what are Episcopalians and how is that church organized?” after the Diocese of South Carolina filed a lawsuit yesterday against the national Episcopal Church. The 65-page complaint asks the court to issue an injunction banning Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and her allies in South Carolina from using the name or presuming to act on behalf of the diocese and further asks the court to affirm the legality of the diocese’s secession from the General Convention of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America.

Filed on 4 January 2013 in the First Judicial Circuit Court in Dorchester County by the trustees of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina and 16 parishes, the complaint asks the civil courts to adjudicate the same general questions currently before the Texas Supreme Court in the Diocese of Fort Worth case. South Carolina has asked the court to… [legally scrutinize] Bishop Jefferts Schori’s claim the Episcopal Church of the United States of America is a hierarchical body with final authority vested in the national church.

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January 4, 2013

Dear Christ-St. Paul’s Parish Family,

Today we joined with the Diocese of South Carolina and the Trustees of the Diocese and some 20 plus other congregations in a lawsuit filed today in a South Carolina Circuit Court seeking a declaratory judgment against The Episcopal Church to protect the Diocese’s real and personal property and that of its parishes, including Christ-St. Paul’s. The parishes participating in the suit, along with the other supporting parishes, represent 74 percent of the members in the Diocese.
The suit asks the court to prevent The Episcopal Church from infringing on the protected marks of the Diocese, including its seal and its historical names, and to prevent The Episcopal Church from assuming the Diocese’s identity, established long before The Episcopal Church’s creation.

Our vestry unanimously voted to join in this action to not only protect our property, but the properties of the Diocese and the other congregations. When the Diocese disassociated from The Episcopal Church it didn’t become a new entity, The Diocese of South Carolina was established in 1785 as an independent, voluntary association that grew from the missionary work of the Church of England. It was incorporated in 1973; and adopted the current legal name, ”˜The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina. While the Diocese has disassociated from The Episcopal Church, it remains a part of the Anglican Communion.

The Episcopal Church has spent more than $22 million on legal action, filing at least 75 lawsuits against the four other dioceses and 200 congregations that have disassociated from the church. The suits have sought to seize the property of local parishes. Today’s suit is pre-emptively filed to protect diocesan and parish property in the wake of our disassociation.

As you know the Episcopal Church has already begun an effort to adopt the Diocese of South Carolina’s identity by calling for a convention to identify new leadership for the Diocese and creating a website and other material using the Diocesan seal.
We joined with our Diocesan family in taking this legal action to protect the legacy of generations of faithful Christ-St. Paul’s members and especially for future generations of worshipers, who want to follow Jesus, place their trust in His Word and remain faithful to His teaching as we received them in our Anglican heritage. Unfortunately to do that, we must do so outside The Episcopal Church.
This Sunday we will have a special Adult Forum following our Big Breakfast, where I, our chancellor, and members of the vestry can address any questions you might have. I ask your continued prayers for Bishop Lawrence, the other clergy and congregations in our Diocese, our vestry, Fr Kendall and me.

Faithfully yours in Christ,

(The Rev.) Craige Borrett is rector, Christ Saint Paul’s, Yonges Island, South Carolina.

The Diocese of South Carolina is made up of 71 parishes with approximately 30,000 members. It says the parishes participating in the suit, along with the other supporting parishes, represent 74 percent of the members in the diocese.

Orangeburg’s Church of the Redeemer is one of the parishes that has signed on to the lawsuit.

“In 1857, the parishioners of the Church of the Redeemer built our first building on Boulevard across from the railroad tracks. In 1891, they put the church on logs and rolled it to its present site on Russell Street,” said the Rev. Dr. Frank E. Larisey, rector of the Church of the Redeemer….

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WCIV-TV | ABC News 4 – Charleston News, Sports, Weather

Officials of the Diocese of South Carolina said Friday that they filed a lawsuit against The Episcopal Church, saying it needs to protect its property from the national body.

A statement from the diocese said the lawsuit was filed in South Carolina Circuit Court. It also seeks to prevent The Episcopal Church from infringing on the protected marks of the Diocese, including its seal and its historical names.

“The Episcopal Church has every right to have a presence in the area served by our Diocese – but it does not have a right to use our identity. The Episcopal Church must create a new entity,” the Rev. Jim Lewis said in a statement.

Spokesman Neva Rae Fox said Friday that The Episcopal Church has not received the lawsuit and cannot comment.

Read it all.

January 4, 2013

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

By now you are aware that today the Diocese of South Carolina, the Trustees of the Diocese and congregations representing the vast majority of its baptized members filed suit in South Carolina Circuit Court against The Episcopal Church to protect the Diocese’s real and personal property and that of its parishes.

We have developed a number of background resources you may find helpful in explaining this situation to your parish. These items include:

A letter from Bishop Lawrence – in the form of a bulletin insert
Stewardship of the Gospel – Stewardship of the Diocese (a theological reflection)
A Media Release
List of Plaintiffs Participating
Glossary of Terms
Timeline of Events
Letters of Support/Articles of Interest

These may all be found here.

If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact me.

In Christ’s service,

–(The Rev. Canon) Jim Lewis is Canon to the Ordinary of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina

Read it all.

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I write to you in this Christmas season to share some news. Today, parishes representing approximately 75 percent of baptized members in our Diocese joined in filing for a declarative judgment in a South Carolina Circuit Court against the Episcopal Church (TEC). We are asking the court to declare that The Episcopal Church (TEC) has no right to the Diocese’s identity and property or that of its parishes.

We are saddened that we feel it necessary to ask a court to protect our property rights, but recent actions compelled us to take this action. As you know, The Episcopal Church (TEC) has begun the effort to claim the Diocese of South Carolina’s identity by calling for a convention to identify new leadership for the diocese, creating a website using the Diocesan seal and producing material that invokes the name and identity of the Diocese of South Carolina.

Our suit asks the court to prevent TEC from infringing on the protected marks of the Diocese, including its seal and its historical names, and to prevent it from assuming the Diocese’s identity, which was established long before TEC was formed. It also asks the court to protect our parish and Diocesan property, including church buildings and rectories, which our forefathers built and even shed blood over, and you have maintained without any investment of any kind from the national church.

Read it all.

This post is ‘Sticky’ at the head of the page – new posts are below.

See also: Bishop Mark Lawrence Writes Regarding the Declaratory Judgment and A Message to Clergy in the Diocese of South Carolina Regarding the Declaratory Judgment and The Diocese of South Carolina is the Only Authority to Convene a Convention in the Diocese and South Carolina Links

The Diocese of South Carolina, the Trustees of the Diocese and congregations representing the vast majority of its baptized members today filed suit in South Carolina Circuit Court against The Episcopal Church to protect the Diocese’s real and personal property and that of its parishes.

The suit also asks the court to prevent The Episcopal Church from infringing on the protected marks of the Diocese, including its seal and its historical names, and to prevent the church from assuming the Diocese’s identity, which was established long before The Episcopal Church’s creation.

“We seek to protect more than $500 million in real property, including churches, rectories and other buildings that South Carolinians built, paid for, maintained and expanded ”“ and in some cases died to protect ”“ without any support from The Episcopal Church,” said the Rev. Jim Lewis, Canon to the Ordinary. “Many of our parishes are among the oldest operating churches in the nation. They and this Diocese predate the establishment of The Episcopal Church. We want to protect these properties from a blatant land grab.”

Read it all.

“What the Presiding Bishop is trying to do is to organize a new diocese of the Episcopal Church in this area,” …[ Bishop Mark Lawrence] said. “We in the Diocese of South Carolina have nothing to do with that undertaking. The name “The [Episcopal] Diocese of South Carolina” is the registered property and identity of the Diocese.”

Bishop Lawrence explained that the continued use of the Dioceses’ corporate name and identity by TEC is causing confusion among the members of the Diocese and the wider South Carolina public. “This misuse of our name and identity by TEC is a violation of South Carolina law and can subject it to liability for treble damages and attorneys’ fees, he explained. “I call upon TEC to cease and desist from the continued misuse of our name and identity.“

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The leaders of the Global South coalition of Anglican provinces have written to Bishop Mark Lawrence of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina stating they do not recognize the validity of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jeffert Schori’s purported deposition of him from episcopal office and the ordained ministry.

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The Rt. Rev. Mark J. Lawrence, Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina, received a letter of support, dated December 14, 2012, from the Steering Committee of the Primates of the Global South of the Anglican Communion. The show of support, signed by The Most Revd Dr. Mouneer Hanna Anis, Primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East; The Most Revd Nicholas Okoh, Primate of All Nigeria; The Most Revd Ian Ernest, Primate of the Indian Ocean; The Most Revd Datuk Bolly Lapok, Primate of South East Asia; The Most Revd Stephen Than Myint Oo, Primate of Myanmar; The Most Revd Dr. Eluid Wabukala, Primate of Kenya and The Most Revd Hector “Tito” Zavala, Primate of the Southern Cone recognizes Bishop Lawrence’s Episcopal orders and his legitimate Episcopal oversight of the Diocese of South Carolina within the Anglican Communion.

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Canonical legerdemain and unlawful usurpation of authority by the presiding bishop in the aim of a political agenda were a sad commentary on the moral state of the Episcopal Church, Bishop Lawrence observed.

The presiding bishop would go to any lengths to exterminate dissent and would twist words to achieve her purposes. “She and her advisers will say I have said what I have not said in ways that I have not said them even while they cite words from my Bishop’s Address” to the South Carolina special convention, he said.

But Bishop Lawrence reported that he was “heartened” by the support he had received by the “vast majority” within the diocese and from the “majority of Anglicans around the world” who have “expressed in so many ways that they consider me an Anglican Bishop in good standing and consider this Diocese of South Carolina to be part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. “

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…events have moved on with ++Jefferts Schori declaring that she has accepted +Lawrence’s renunciation of his bishopness. Here truth gets a little strange as the renunciation wasn’t given but it has been declared to have been given by virtue of public utterances being deemed to be equivalent to formal, written renunciation.

Now events have moved a bit further: a renunciated bishop means a vacant bishopric, so a convention of the Diocese of South Carolina has been called by ++Jefferts Schori, even though it is not her canonical prerogative to do so, that being the privilege of the Standing Committee of the Diocese, which still exists. Naturally, fiction prevailing here, the Standing Committee is deemed not to exist because the entity which is the Diocese of South Carolina is deemed to have disappeared in a haze of smoke created by its decision to distance itself from TEC.

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“This first week of Advent George and Kevin discuss the latest news from the Diocese of South Carolina and the unlawful actions of the Presiding Bishop. Your two favorite commentators also tackle the final Advent letter from Archbishop Rowan Williams and they share some sage advice for Bishop Justin Welby.”
From here with thanks.

Some Lowcountry Episcopal congregations are still unsure if they will…[choose to reaffiliate] with the national Episcopal church or [stay with]… Episcopal Bishop Mark Lawrence….

Meanwhile, the presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, said she will come to Charleston on Jan. 25-26 to preside over a convention to elect a provisional bishop to replace Lawrence, who pulled out of the national church last month, taking a majority of the congregations of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina with him. Lawrence has been outspoken in his opposition to same sex blessings and contends the national church has lost its theological way.

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Bishop Lawrence and his family are requesting prayer for the Bishop’s mother, Bertha Ann Lawrence, who is gravely ill. We are also asking for traveling mercies for the Lawrences as they travel to be with her.

Almighty God, look on this your servant, Bertha,
lying in great weakness and comfort her with the promise of life everlasting,
given in the resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

From here:

Following the announcement that the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church plans a trip to Charleston for a January 25-26 convention of those wishing to re-associate with the Episcopal Church, the Diocese of South Carolina released the following statements:

“They are certainly free to gather and meet, but they are not free to assume our identity. The Diocese of South Carolina has disassociated from the Episcopal Church, we’ve not ceased to exist. We continue to be the Diocese of South Carolina ”“ also known, legally as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina and as the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, of which I remain the Bishop. We are eager to get on with the ministry of Jesus Christ to a broken world! I suggest that the Steering Committee of this new group will want to do the same. A good first step for them would be to select a new name or choose another Diocese with which to associate.”

The Rt. Rev. Mark J. Lawrence
XIV Bishop, Diocese of South Carolina
“I would like to make a point of clarification for those who think we became a new entity upon our disassociation. A brief history lesson seems in order. We were founded in 1785 (prior to the founding of the Episcopal Church). We were incorporated in 1973; adopted our current legal name, “The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina,” in 1987; and we disassociated from the Episcopal Church in October of 2012. We did not become a new entity upon our disassociation. A new entity will need to be created by those who choose to leave the Diocese and re-associate with the Episcopal Church.”
The Rev. Canon Jim Lewis
Canon to the Ordinary, Diocese of South Carolina

“They insist on what others must do yet there is no written standard to support them, and at the same time they run roughshod over their own constitution and canons. They have created a tails we win, heads you lose world where the rules are adjusted according to their desired outcomes–no wonder we dissociated from a community like that.”
The Rev. Dr. Kendall S. Harmon
Canon Theologian, Diocese of South Carolina

Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori doesn’t play by the rules. Specifically, she and her Council of Advice decided that the Bishop of South Carolina had renounced his orders as a bishop without following the canons, or laws, of the church. For example, the church’s canons state that in order to renounce your orders, one must do so “in writing.” The Bishop of South Carolina never wrote the Presiding Bishop, or any one for that matter, claiming to renounce his orders. This is just one example of the current state of lawlessness in The Episcopal Church. Canon Phil Ashey reflects on these recent events in this week’s Anglican Perspective.

Watch it all.

I have been asked by our Vestry and a number of our members to publically state my position on recent events between the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina and the national Episcopal Church. For the past four years I have attempted to teach and clarify issues as objectively as I could as they arose between the Worldwide Anglican Communion, The Episcopal Church and our Diocese. I will continue to do that in the two upcoming congregational meetings. So there will be no confusion however I will now make a summary of my own thoughts clear.

Read it all (page 6 of pdf).

Read it all.

Read it all and there is more here.

The Rev. Jim Lewis, Canon to the Ordinary for the diocese, told The Christian Post that the official report on the renunciation is inaccurate since Lawrence “never offered a renunciation of his orders.”

“The TEC canons are explicit that such a renunciation must be in writing, to the presiding bishop, expressing the desire to be removed,” said Lewis.

“None of those criteria have been met because it has never been the intention of Bishop Lawrence to renounce his orders. It is also not canonically possible to consider a request for renunciation while another disciplinary canon is in effect.”

Read it all.

Please note that it will be the pseudo-diocese and its so-called “provisional bishop” who will instigate any lawsuits that are to be brought. Neither Bishop Lawrence nor any part of his diocese will resort first to court to protect the diocese’s real and personal property: they have no need to sue, as existing law gives them the upper hand, and besides, as we have just seen, Scripture teaches that it is wrong for Christians to go to secular court against fellow Christians.

But sue ECUSA will, and so also its pseudo-diocese, in a case of the latter being the blind led by the halt and the lame. For during that entire time period that they are in court, they will be consumed by their object of recovering so-called “ECUSA” property, by arguing and seeking to apply the precedents from other States, while they ignore the binding precedent which in no way is favorable to them under existing South Carolina law.

So we are in for much more folly and wheel-spinning before the pseudo-diocese of South Carolina can ever get to first base, let alone score a run.

Read it all (at the bottom).

The Bishop of South Carolina has received the news of his removal from the ordained ministry with sorrow, and a little pity. On 5 Dec 2012 the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church announced that she had accepted the voluntary renunciation of the ministerial orders of the Bishop of South Carolina. However, Bishop Mark J. Lawrence reports the presiding bishop’s actions have no canonical significance.

On the fourth anniversary of her deposing Bishop Jack Iker by the same canonical maneuver, Bishop Jefferts Schori announced she had deposed Bishop Lawrence. The Episcopal News Service reported that pursuant to Title III, Canon 12, Section 7 the Presiding Bishop “has accepted the renunciation of the ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church of Mark Lawrence as made in his public address on November 17 and she has released him from his orders in this Church.”

Read it all.

Watch it all carefully.

This post remains ‘Sticky’ at the head of the page.

Quite simply I have not renounced my orders as a deacon, priest or bishop any more than I have abandoned the Church of Jesus Christ””But as I am sure you are aware, the Diocese of South Carolina has canonically and legally disassociated from The Episcopal Church. We took this action long before today’s attempt at renunciation of orders, therein making it superfluous.

Read it all.
_______________________________________

December 5, 2012

Dear Friends in Christ,

“For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” 2 Corinthians 4:5

The Presiding Bishop called me this afternoon to inform me that she and her council of advice have “accepted my renunciation of ordained ministry.” I listened quietly, asked a question or two and then told her it was good to hear her voice. I did not feel any need to argue or rebut. It is the Presiding Bishop’s crossing of the T’s and dotting of the I’s””for their paper work, not my life. I could point out the canonical problems with what they have done contrary to the canons of The Episcopal Church but to what avail? TEC will do what they will do regardless of canonical limitations. Those canonical problems are already well documented by others and hardly need further documentation by me. She and her advisers will say I have said what I have not said in ways that I have not said them even while they cite words from my Bishop’s Address of November 17, 2012.

Quite simply I have not renounced my orders as a deacon, priest or bishop any more than I have abandoned the Church of Jesus Christ. As I am sure you are aware, the Diocese of South Carolina has canonically and legally disassociated from The Episcopal Church. We took this action long before today’s attempt to claim a renunciation of my orders, thereby making it superfluous.

So we move on””onward and upward. As I write these words in the vesper light of this first Wednesday of Advent, the bells of the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul ring in the steeple beside the diocesan office, and I remain the Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina. We shall continue to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ in Word and Deed to a needy world, as well as ourselves. We need to experience afresh its power to set us free from sin, death, guilt, shame and judgment and to transform our lives to be like Christ’s from one degree of glory to another. As the Apostle has written: “The Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

I am heartened by the support of the vast majority of those within this Diocese as well as that of the majority of Anglicans around the world and that of many in North America who have expressed in so many ways that they consider me to be an Anglican Bishop in good standing and that this Diocese of South Carolina is part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

My prayers for a wakeful and watchful Advent,

The Right Reverend Mark Joseph Lawrence
XIV Bishop of South Carolina

For background see also:
A.S. Haley””The Presiding Bishop Flouts the Canons Again
Presiding Bishop Says Mark Lawrence Says what he did not Say, right out of George Orwell
South Carolina Links

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Bishop Lawrence (a) did not address any writing to the Presiding Bishop; (b) did not renounce his ordained Ministry; and (c) did not request to be removed from that Ministry. The elaborately crafted press release from the Public Affairs Office is simply a poor attempt to cover over a huge, public lie.

That huge, public lie has been told simply for the sake of the Presiding Bishop’s and ECUSA’s own convenience. It is convenient for them to be rid of Bishop Lawrence now, rather than wait until next March’s meeting of the House of Bishops — that way, they avoid the necessity of taking another illegal vote of “deposition” by less than the full majority of bishops that the Abandonment Canon requires; and they are now free to reorganize those in South Carolina wishing to remain with ECUSA into a pseudo-diocese with a puppet bishop whose immediate and most important mission will not be the welfare of his parishioners, but instead the filing of a lawsuit against Bishop Lawrence and the real Diocese’s corporate trustees, in an attempt to force them to turn over all of the Diocese’s property and assets.

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Read it all.